Beginner, just got an mSR & DX6i

[RedOctobyr]

Hi all, I'm new here, just got my mSR yesterday. I had gotten myself a Syma S107 (coaxial toy) for Christmas, which was a lot of fun, and an intro to remote controlled helicopters, but I was quickly looking to do more than it could offer. After a lot of reading, I decided to go with the BNF mSR, and bought a used DX6i here.

This thing is a lot of fun :) And the suggestions to get a DX6i, vs the stock TX, were really good. I set the servo travels (except throttle) to 50% to start, with no Expo, and set the gyro channel to 0%, to give me a nice, easy starting point. That really helped, plus the fact that it was trimmed to hover fairly well out of the box. With a few clicks of trim, it stayed in-place pretty well, and the controller settings let me get my feet wet without immediately slamming into a wall. I'm learning indoors, and I don't have a huge area to play in. I'm gradually raising the servo travels, but I really appreciate the DX6i for that. For comparison I put it back to 100% travel, and left the gyro set to 0 (to mimic the stock TX in "training" mode), and it's much twitchier. At least for learning, I like the ability to set it up the way I have. Also, just the ability to set the throttle curve to make it much more gradual around hovering (and I limited it to 80%) is a big plus, that's helped keep me off the ceiling.

I bought a pair of 150 mAh E-Flite batteries with it (in addition to the 2 included 120 mAh batteries), and went through 2-3 charge cycles on all the batteries yesterday. Then this morning I read more about the high charge rate on the Celectra charger, and turned all of my pots down (CCW) all the way. It may still be charging at more than 1C (I do not yet have the cables I'd need to check that), but it should at least be more gentle to the batteries going forward.

It's been durable so far, although I have not yet had any hard crashes. I do notice that my tail motor does not run smoothly (at a constant RPM) at a smooth hover. It is constantly and quickly "seeking" up & down a little in RPM. I assume it's the gyro making a lot of little corrections even as it's just hanging there. I don't know if that's normal?

I have seen suggestions here to use the Throttle Cut button instead of dropping the throttle stick, when you're about to crash. The explanation was that it develops good habits, if you ever get a CP heli. I see the logic in that, and I would rather avoid getting into bad habits, but I find the Throttle Cut button very awkward. Flying indoors, I don't have much time between "flying next to the couch" and "uh-oh, flying *into* the couch", so having to take my thumb off the right stick (to reach the button) means I abandon some control, and it takes time. I've been dropping the throttle stick, and flipping the Throttle Hold switch (which I set to 0%), since I can hit Throttle Hold without moving my thumbs. Does that accomplish the same thing as using Throttle Cut, in terms of good practices for CP? Or do people really use the Throttle Cut button?

For what it's worth, from an almost-total-beginners perspective (I'm not sure how much the S107 counts), I'm glad I got the mSR & DX6i, vs. starting with an mCX. At least with this controller, you can "tame" the mSR to make it less responsive, and quite manageable, even for a newcomer. The money that you would have spent on an mCX "trainer" would be better put towards a DX6i, it seems to me.

[FFF_Ferret]

Welcome!

You're just like me - someone gave me a little coaxial toy, and a week later I had an mSR. I think these kiosks in shopping malls all over the country that sell the little Syma and yiboo 3-channel coaxials are bringing a HUGE number of new people into the hobby. Either they play with it and get bored and give it up, or they do what you and I did, which is dive in to the whole heli world. It's funny how the importers who are making money from selling the toys in malls are essentially doing free marketing for the companies like E-flite and Walkera too, because without even advertising, these companies are getting the "next step up from a Syma" crowd beating down their doors to buy an mSR or a CB100.

Good move to just start out with the DX6i - I can't belive I spent almost a month flying with that stock Tx. You're just going to have way more fun because of the extra control you'll have, and you can now just buy BNF versions of things (well, as long as they're Spektrum-compatible), so you'll save some money in the long run.

I don't use the Throttle cut button, though I guess I have the same question as you about that - I'll leave it to the more experienced among us to answer that one.

Get yourself stocked up on spare parts, and prepare to have fun!

[Airworks]

no need for thottle cut on these little helis. Throttle cut is for big birds with gobs of headspeed and 1-way bearings etc.
better to use that switch for something like daul rates on rudder "piro/rudder spin" rates etc.

it all comes with time, youll get used to your fingers moving without havin to let go of the sticks etc , and the better you get , the less you will actually , "think" of what to do , your fingers will jsut do it on there own due to your minds" auto-reaction" habits. the better you get, the more time it seems you have to do things(even though its the same amount of time).

before moving into big stuff, make sure to get yourself a good simulator to log some hours on first. will be your best next investment! its similair enough to train your brain into reacting without thinking, and things will become "2nd nature" .

in a tx purchase , get yourself something that feels good in your hands.
i went with the dx7se after holding about 7 or 8 tx's in my hands, then made decision from there. all top brand tx's are all good , no one is better then the other , they all had thier issues and problems equally. Some have different options or more options etc, but i find most options on tx's are useless or rarily used , (unless you want all sorts of stuff on your aircraft , like bomb drop, retracts ,flaps etc. etc. etc. ....
BNF's yeh , i'd go with spectrum due to the bind.

gyro , yep will correct the whole time it flies. normal. tail always very slightly , "seeks"
keep a GOOD eye on the cap over the end of the tail motor , search forums for ways to make sure it doesn't pop off! some glue it , some tape it some shrinkwrap it.

yep good tx , one of the most important parts of rc.

[hi im drummer03]

Although practicing throotle cut will get you in the habit for big helis.

[RedOctobyr]

I did some reading that helped explained why the Throttle Cut button was seeming kind of useless to me. Before my radio arrived, I had not expected Throttle Cut to be a "momentary" switch (where when you let go, the switch turns off, and the electric motor spins again). It seemed like a strange approach once I started flying, because if you hit Throttle Cut, and then your finger slipped off the button, wham, the blades would instantly spin up again. That seemed like you could even damage your ESC, if the heli was on it's side, with the blades trapped, and all of a sudden it tried to go to 70% throttle.

But I read that Throttle Cut was really intended for nitro-powered helicopters, and it would pull the throttle servo back all the way to shut the engine off. In that case, assuming the engine shuts off quickly, it does not matter if you let go of the button, since the engine will stay off. For electrics, however, the motor springs back to life.

From what I understand, the Throttle Hold switch will essentially do the same thing for electric models, even CP helis. I read that Throttle Hold on a CP will shut the electric motor off, without changing the pitch of the blades to be negative (and driving the heli down into the ground, which is apparently what happens when you lower the throttle stick on a CP). So I am trying to train myself out of lowering the throttle stick, and to instead just flick the Throttle Hold switch. It's easier to reach quickly than moving a thumb to the Throttle Cut button, and it stays active, even if you move your thumb, unlike Throttle Cut. If I have misunderstood how this works, please let me know :) I'm summarizing this here also in case maybe it helps someone else, since I had been unclear on the difference between Cut and Hold.

[RedOctobyr]

Just wanted to post an update. I've had my mSR for 2 weeks ago, still love it :)

I gradually raised the servo throw settings into the radio over several days, to ease me into the heli being more responsive. I'd set the Aileron and Elevator limits to 60%, then 70%, 80%, finally 100%. But I still had the radio's gyro channel set to 0%, so the 5-in-1 was in "training" mode. It's gotten a lot more responsive, and fun, without just overwhelming me all at once (into a wall).

I finally tried setting the gyro to 100% last night, to put the 5-in-1 into full-travel mode. A lot faster, way more cyclic response, but now I can actually control it pretty well, and go zipping around the room, without just slamming into things :) I can see what people mean when they say that more cyclic control can actually help avoid crashing, since you have more ability to pull out of a problem. I still have 0 Expo, just a linear response on everything but the throttle (I have a throttle curve set, to make it easier to stay around a hover).

I'm having a great time, this thing is a lot of fun. And I love the DX6i, that's really helped me out. It's let me gradually work up to making the mSR more responsive, while still keeping control. I am still on the short swashplate arms.

However, I do feel like maybe I need to take a step back from flying around and having fun, and go back to basics. I've seen people suggest going through RADD's lessons/tutorials. I know that my orientation could use some work. When I'm going forward, banked turns, etc, are fine, and lots of fun. When I recover from something, however, nose- or side-in, and I'm more or less penduluming wildly through space, I have more trouble with quickly correcting in the right direction.

In the hardware department, I've replaced my landing gear and tail rotor. The tail rotor looked OK, but it was losing pitch on the blades (they were too flat), so the tail was blowing out when I'd give it more throttle. Tried a new rotor, and I was OK again. I also bought 6 Turnigy Nano 130mAh batteries and a 160mAh. I've been using the 130's so far, I've been happy with them, but only have about 15 charge cycles on each. I set my flight timer to 4:30 with the 130's, I have not flown them longer.

There's a lot of good info on here, I've been learning a lot, and having a lot of fun.

[MrMitch]

Haha its funny how many people started with the Mall Heli Special.. I got the Syma for xmas... four days later got a Blade CPP2, quickly realized that was way over my head, and got a mSR. When my transmitter is not bugging out, I love that thing.

[RoundWing]

The Throttle Cut button is designed for Nitro models to cut the engine (nitro engines don't restart when it is released). On my DX6i I use that button to start / stop/ reset the timer (select the switch under the timer options).

For cutting power on an electric model just set throttle hold = 0% in the throttle curves, then flip the T.HOLD switch at the right rear of the DX6i up to cut power to the motors. I keep the switch up anytime the model isn't in the air as a safety measure. It prevents the rotor from spinning up if the Tx stick is bumped by accident.